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JIHAD:

The Holy War The Destiny of Iran and the Moslem World

Third Edition

By Dr. Lester Sumrall

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Jihad: The Holy War

Copyright © 1980, 2015 by LeSEA Publishing

ISBN 1-58568-591-7

Former ISBN 0-937580-25-2, 0-89274-188-0

This Printing September 2015

LeSEA Publishing

530 E. Ireland Rd.

South Bend, IN 46614

www.leseapublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. Contents

and/or cover may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form without the express written consent of

the Publisher.

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DEDICATION

This volume is dedicated to those pioneers of Christian television who braved the dangers and

hardships of a new frontier. They will bring millions to Christ in this generation.

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CONTENTS

Foreword from Pete Sumrall

Preface from Billye Brim

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 ELAM: Grandson of Noah, Father of Iran

2 Father Abraham Fights IRAN

3 IRANIAN Empire

4 The PERSIAN Empire and the Plan of God

5 IRAN and Its Jewish Queen

6 IRAN and the Birth of Christ

7 IRAN at the Birth of the Christian Church

8 JIHAD: The Holy War

9 JIHAD and the Crusades

10 Modern-day JIHAD

11 JIHAD against America

12 JIHAD: In Alliance with Infidels

13 The Final JIHAD

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Foreword (Billye Brim)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to thank my wife, Louise Sumrall, and Billye Brim for their invaluable contributions to this

book of history and prophecy.

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1

ELAM:

Grandson of Noah, Father of Iran

Iran shocked the world and commanded the attention of its newspaper headlines and

broadcast bulletins when it captured the embassy of one of the world’s most powerful nations on

November 4, 1979, and took hostage sixty-three citizens of the “land of the free.”

Knowledgeable students of Bible prophecy were the least surprised at that terrible intrusion.

They had been watching for a move from this ancient land, for neither modern Iran, nor the Islamic

world, can escape their past history or future destiny.

You’re not a student of Bible prophecy, you say? How can you know what to expect from

Iran and the Moslem world?

My purpose in writing this book is to help you to know. Trace with me the history of Iran

through the pages of the Bible. It isn’t difficult to do. It isn’t hidden. It isn’t beyond your grasp. In

fact, you will be fascinated at how your understanding of current world events widens in the light of

God’s Holy Word.

IRAN: An Ancient Land

Iran—called Persia until 1935 when it was renamed by its then Shah—has nearly four

thousand years of recorded and known history. The story begins with Noah’s grandson, Elam. But

let’s go back to the beginning—the beginning of man.

Adam, the first human, knew God on a very personal, one-to-one basis. Adam walked and

talked with God. Adam knew how to worship the “Elohim” God in an acceptable manner. But

Adam fell and mankind with him. This was approximately six thousand years ago.

Some two thousand years after the Eden catastrophe, only Noah knew God on a one-to-one

basis. He preached and prepared for one hundred years for the deluge God told him would cover the

earth. No one, outside his family, believed.

What a treasure was carried in the Ark that saved them! It was mankind’s knowledge of

God.

At this point in time, Noah and his family were the only Homo sapiens on planet earth. They

knew the true God and worshipped Him.

Noah’s sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—left the Ark with a tremendous respect for the

living God and divine order. They heard the voice of God and witnessed the birth of the rainbow—

God’s promise not to destroy the earth again with water. They stood at Noah’s altar with heads

bowed as the God of the universe promised there would never be another worldwide flood. They

heard God’s promise of perpetual seedtime and harvest.

Shem, Ham, and Japheth also remembered how wickedly the people who were destroyed by

the flood had lived.

What a tremendous memory bank! What knowledge to pass on from these three fathers to

their offspring—the entire world’s population!

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Iran and Early Biblical History

Bible genealogy after the flood is found in Genesis chapters 10 and 11.

To Shem—Noah’s son—Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram were born (Gen. 10:22).

Elam became a tribe, built cities, ultimately vanquished Babylon, and became the Persian

Empire. Iran’s history is traceable through Elam.

Elam was at least one year older than his brother, Arphaxad. It is in Arphaxad’s line that we

find Abraham only ten generations from Noah’s flood

1. Shem. “Noah begat three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth” (Gen. 6:10).

2. Arphaxad. “Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood”

(Gen. 11:10).

3. Salah. “And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah” (v. 12).

4. Eber. “And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber” (v. 14).

5. Peleg. “And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg” (v. 16).

6. Reu. “And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu” (v. 18).

7. Serug. “And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug” (v. 20).

8. Nahor. “And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor” (v. 22).

9. Terah. “And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah” (v. 24).

10. Abram (Abraham). “And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran” (v.

26).

During these ten generations, many left the truth of God. Some began to serve idols.

These relatively few years witnessed the Tower of Babel and the dispersion of the nations

by language (Gen. 11:3-9). In order for God to preserve the promised Seed of the woman and fulfill

His prophecy given at the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:15), He had to separate men—evil from good.

God did this by confusion of language at Babel.

These years also witnessed, in the days of Peleg, the division of the earth from one land

mass into continents and islands (Gen. 10:25). God again separated the good, God-fearing people

from the rest of mankind. This was His means of bringing the world a Savior, Jesus Christ.

Less than four hundred years after the flood, God spoke to Abram on a one-to-one basis and

told him to leave Ur of the Chaldees—the area where the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian

Empires would later spring up.

It was Elamite raids that destroyed Ur about 1950 B.C.

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Father Abraham Fights Iran

It was Jehovah God who spoke to Abraham and caused him to leave Ur of the Chaldees, the

general area which would become Elam, Persia, and Iran, a place where many had become

worshippers of idols and demon spirits.

The story of the flood had now passed through ten generations, which may at first seem like

a vast span of time. Really, it’s not a very long time. I hold in my experience the knowledge of five

generations. I remember my grandfather well; I know my grandchildren well. Some people

remember great grandparents and live to know great grandchildren.

In only ten generations after Noah, in order to separate evil from good, God demanded that

Abraham depart from Ur of the Chaldees.

Jehovah’s divine guidance led him north to Haran across the desert into Canaan, which was

to become his homeland and the “Promised Land” to him and his seed after him.

In the land of Canaan, Abraham continued to serve the true God of Noah and Adam. He had

amazing increase in his possessions. Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold (Gen.

13:2).

Abraham’s Nephew, Lot, whom Abraham had brought with him, also had great possessions.

And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And the land was not able

to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not

dwell together (Gen. 13:5-6).

Because of their abundant possessions, the two could no longer live within the same grazing

space for their cattle. They had to separate. But the land was great before them. Abraham gave Lot

his choice, saying, If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the

right hand, then I will go to the left (v. 9).

Lot chose the well-watered plain of Jordan. Journeying eastward, he pitched his tent toward

the city of Sodom where there was exceeding sin. Eventually, he moved into that wicked city and

became an official in the city gate of Sodom.

Several years after Lot left Abraham, Sodom was besieged and captured by the kings of the

Fertile Crescent. It came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar,

Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations; that these made war with Bera king of

Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim,

and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is

the salt sea (Gen. 14:1-3).

In this first recorded war in the Bible, we note Chedorlaomer, king of Elam. He was the

leader of a coalition of kings from the same area Abraham had departed at God’s command.

For twelve years the five principal cities in the Jordan plain, including Sodom and

Gomorrah, had been made to serve Chedorlaomer and pay him tribute.

In the thirteenth year, the cities of the plain rebelled. In the fourteenth year, the confederacy

of kings headed up by the king of Elam came to put down the insurrection. They smote Sodom and

Gomorrah and took all their goods, their victuals, and many of their people as hostages (Iran has

been taking hostages for a long time). Among their captives was Abraham’s nephew, Lot.

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Word of the capture reached Abraham. Someone who escaped the battle came with the news

to Mamre where Abraham dwelled.

Abraham took three hundred and eighteen trained servants of his own house, armed them,

and pursued the invading kings from Hebron in the south, through the hills of Judea, across

Megiddo, up through the hills of Galilee to Dan, where he overtook them. A long pursuit!

Abraham divided his band and attacked by night. Then he chased the kings to Hobnah, north

of Damascus, where he completely destroyed them. He destroyed the powers of Persia in one night!

Genesis 14:17 tells how the king of Sodom came out to meet Abraham after his return from

the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which

is the king's dale.

Abraham brought Sodom’s riches back to them and gave his nephew, Lot, his life.

Within a few years’ time, Abraham had to fight the people of Elam where he had come from

as a young man. God gave him power over the kings from his homeland. This is witnessed by

Melchizedek’s blessing when he met Abraham upon his return from the victory. And Melchizedek

king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he

blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And

blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him

tithes of all (Gen. 14:18-20).

The first step into biblical history for Iran was when it faced the man of God, Abraham, and

its king, Chedolaomer, was destroyed.

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Iran and Empire

Permit me to grasp your spirit so that we can walk together in the prophetical truth which

will bring you an understanding of the times. It is only through the Bible that anyone can

understand them.

More than twenty-five hundred years ago, God spoke to a man named Daniel in visions and

dreams and showed him empires unborn. History verifies the fact that this man prophesied the rise

and fall of empires. Today you can see the blueprint of the future through this man of God named

Daniel.

Daniel, a young prince of Judah, was carried off into captivity with other children of Israel

by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. There he was chosen, with other outstanding young captives,

to be trained in the king’s college for three years.

Daniel purposed in his heart to obey the living God. He would not defile himself with the

king’s meat or wine. Three fellow captives joined him. God gave them favor and elevated them to

high positions in the empire.

As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and

wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now at the end of the

days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs

brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king communed with them; and

among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:

therefore stood they before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding,

that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians

and astrologers that were in all his realm (Dan. 1:17-20).

First Prophetic Picture of Iran: Silver

Daniel, through supernatural power, saw the entire scope of world empires—but only those

empires prophetically involved with Christ—in three revelations.

The first revelation initially came as a dream to the worldly king, Nebuchadnezzar (Dan.

2:1-18).

The dream and its interpretation were revealed unto Daniel in a night vision (Dan. 2:19).

Daniel said, in the presence of the king, There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and

maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezar what shall be in the latter days (Dan. 2:28).

Most believers know that we are in “the latter days.”

First, Daniel told the king the dream. Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This

great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of

brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut

out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them

to pieces (Dan. 2:31-34).

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Then Daniel gave the king the interpretation. God revealed through Daniel that the great

metallic colossus foretold the future of mankind. The metallic man revealed four great prophetic

world empires—the entire period of Gentile supremacy in the world—until the end of time.

INSERT STATUE ILLUSTRATION HERE

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Gold—Babylonian Empire. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath

given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell,

the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee

ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold (Dan. 2:37-38). The golden empire of the centuries

was Babylon—none ever rose such as it. Babylon fell to the Persians in 539 B.C.

Silver—Medo-Persian Empire. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to

thee. . . (Dan. 2:39). Our first prophetic picture of Iran—shoulders, arms, and chest of silver. The

empire indeed had two arms—the Medes and the Persians. They were together, members of the

same family. The Persians superseded the Medes and dominated the kingdom.

Brass—Grecian Empire. . . .and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule

over all the earth (Dan. 2:39). This kingdom began with Alexander the Great and was later

controlled by four army generals. In 334 B.C. Alexander set about liberating Greece from Persian

control and launching the sweeping campaign which resulted in a new empire.

Iron (Clay and Iron)—Roman Empire. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron

(Dan. 2:40). The Roman Empire arose two hundred years before Christ. It was seen first divided

into two—the legs; this was fulfilled in the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. Then it was seen

divided into ten—the toes (the feet and toes were clay and iron); this is the federation of nations

under one head, the Antichrist, which exists at the end of the present age.

Second Prophetic Picture of Iran: The Bear

King Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of the metallic man gave the imposing outward glory of the

destiny of empires. God revealed their natures in a vision given to Daniel forty-eight years later. In

the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his

bed. . .Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven

strove upon the great sea (Dan. 7:1-2).

This reveals the movement of strength and might upon multitudes of people. In God’s Word

“the sea” is always multitudes of people. Daniel saw the furious empires of the world moving like

tempestuous winds upon a stormy sea.

And four great beasts came up from the sea [again the sea of people], diverse one from

another (v. 3). Every empire in history has been different from all others.

The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. . . (v. 4). This kingdom is the same as the

golden head. It is now described as a lion. As gold is the finest of metals, so the lion is the strongest

of beasts. Babylon was a much greater nation than many modern people realize. The lion had

eagle’s wings. This signifies the speed at which it moved to conquer the world and carry out its own

wishes. Great strength and velocity symbolized Babylon.

Our special interest in this book is the second empire: And behold another beast, a second,

like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the

teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh (v. 5).

In Daniel’s vision, Persia was a bear.

The Medes and the Persians were one army together, but Persia raised itself up on one side

and destroyed the Medes. Thus it became solely the Persian Empire.

The three ribs in the bear’s mouth signify three major nations it had conquered—Media,

Lydia, and Babylon. All were conquered by Persia. Persia boasted that she ruled one hundred

twenty-seven provinces from India to Egypt.

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All the great empires were ruthless and killed many. “Much flesh devoured” speaks of the

terrible violence and quick destruction exacted upon this empire’s enemies. The bear is a vicious

predator, a killer. In like manner, Persia was a devourer of nations.

After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings

of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it (v. 6). The Grecian Empire

was known for its great speed, for its hiding, and for its killing. God likened it unto a leopard with

four wings and four heads.

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and

strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the

residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten

horns (v. 7). The fourth beast was unlike any other beast. It was the Roman Empire. In the end it

was to have ten horns, representing ten nations, and a little horn which ultimately produces the

Antichrist who will stand up before Christ and fight against Him at the end of time.

Third Prophetic Picture of Iran: Ram

Two years after the vision recorded in Daniel chapter 7, the Lord gave Daniel a further

vision of empires. This vision came to him in the third year of Belshazzar (553 B.C.).

Daniel says something very strange as he begins to relate it: And I saw in a vision; and it

came to pass, when I saw, that I saw at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam;

and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai (Dan. 8:2).

We already know the province of Elam becomes Persia and then Iran. Shushan is its Persian

capital and the structure of the royal palace. The royal city was known as “Shushan the palace.” The

business and residential area was known as “Shushan the city.” Daniel saw that world power was to

be transferred to the kingdom of Persia. This would be fulfilled fourteen years later in 539 B.C.

Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which

had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher

came up last (v. 3).

God gave Daniel the interpretation of the ram in verse 20: The ram which thou sawest

having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.

The two horns represent the twin nations of the Medes and the Persians in the beginning.

Then one horn lifted itself up higher than the other and the Persians destroyed the Medes and

became sole rulers of the empire.

I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward. . . (v. 4). The ram’s thrust

of power was westward toward Israel and the Mediterranean Sea, northward toward Russia and

Turkey, and southward toward Africa. Persia boasted that all existing armies were defeated and her

rule was over one hundred twenty-seven provinces with a prince ruling each province.

Daniel also saw the fall of the Persian Empire. He tells of a great “he goat” coming from the

west (v. 5). Greece is in the west. The he goat did not touch the ground. He moved with such

velocity and power and speed, he ran into the ram which was Persia—smote him, broke his horns,

cast him to the ground and stomped upon him.

Therefore the he goat waxed very great. . . (v. 8). The Grecian Empire began to rule the

world.

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. . .and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones

toward the four winds of heaven (v. 8). Alexander the Great died at a very young age. Four generals

then ruled, dividing his kingdom.

History Before it Happens

These prophecies by the prophet Daniel became an accurate record of history which was to

come.

One of the proofs that God is God is that many years before these empires came into power,

God through HIS servants revealed the empires’ likeness, their strength, their rise, their fall, and the

one that would succeed them—even unto the last empire which has to do with the Stone which was

cut without hands out of the mountain. (More about this later.)

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4

The Persian Empire and the Plan of God

It is remarkable that we can follow Noah’s grandson, Elam, through the pages of history

until his tribe becomes a mighty empire—an empire which blessed the work of God.

The Babylonian Empire had conquered Israel, destroying its capital city, Jerusalem—its

walls, its gates, and its Temple. The Babylonian Empire robbed the Temple of its treasures and

carried them away to Babylon.

The Persian Empire returned the captives to their homeland and helped them rebuild their

walls, their gates, and their Temple, giving them money and provisions to do so. They returned the

vessels of the House of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar had brought to Babylon (Ezra 1:7-11).

The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi

testify to this. They tell the story of the Persian Empire as related to the people through whom God

would bring a Savior to the world. They prophesy about Iran and its destiny.

Cyrus, king of Persia, founded the Medo-Persian Empire. He is the king who returned the

Jews to Judea. Ezra chapter 1 tells his story and declares that it was the Lord who stirred him up to

do so:

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the

mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of

Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in

writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given

me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at

Jerusalem, which is in Judah (Ezra 1:1-2).

It is fascinating that the prophet Isaiah had foretold this—even naming the king—seventy-

six years before it came to pass (Is. 44:28; 45:1, 13).

The son of Cyrus, Cambyses, became emperor of Persia at his father’s death. He went forth

to conquer Egypt and was fantastically successful in putting down rebellion in Egypt. On his

journey home, however, he died.

An impostor named Pseudo Smerdis grabbed the throne, as the emperor was out of the

country when he died. He ruled Persia six months before being killed by Darius.

King Darius, after taking the throne, defeated nine kings in nineteen battles. He brought

Persia to an unquestionable place of supremacy in the world, putting down all rebellion in the world

against it.

The Temple Rebuilt

During the reign of Darius, Jerusalem was a scene of activity between 520 and 515 B.C., as

the Temple was rebuilt under the prophetic leadership of Haggai and Zechariah.

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The Walls Go Up

Nehemiah, a Jew, was cupbearer to the famous Persian king Artaxerxes. In Nehemiah 1:4,

we observe this man in high position to be a man of prayer. Nehemiah’s determination was so

strong that he prayed for four months before appearing before the king to present his cause.

Because of his acceptance by the Persian king, he was commissioned to go to Jerusalem and

rebuild the walls and the gates. The emperor provided Nehemiah with finances and letters to all the

governors of the provinces and gave him protection.

The People May Return

Ezra (also a leader of Israel) was greatly respected and found favor with Artaxerxes, so

much so that the king made this decree: I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of

his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem,

go with thee (Ezra 7:13). This was decreed in 457 B.C.

Iran had a very vital part in the rebirth of Israel. What the Empire of Babylon had destroyed,

the Empire of Persia had rebuilt.

When Iran gave sympathy to the Jews and helped them to rebuild, it played a part in the plan

of God. It was through these Jews that a way was being prepared for the eternal King, Jesus, to

come.

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5

Iran and Its Jewish Queen

It is amazing how God keeps putting His finger into politics.

He has always had a witness in every empire. When Egypt was the greatest country in the

world, Joseph was right there bossing the thing. When Babylon was at the zenith of its power,

Daniel was there giving the forecast and the truth for that land. And at the peak of the Persian

Empire, a Jewish queen came to the throne.

Ahasuerus, son of Darius, had succeeded his father to the throne. This Ahasuerus, or

Xerxes, was a militant emperor. He maintained the scope and splendor of the Persian Empire and

was successful in keeping his more restless subjects under control. From India to Ethiopia he ruled

one hundred twenty-seven provinces (Esther 1:1). This is the vastness of the Persian Empire.

Under Ahasuerus, an amazing page of history took place in “Shushan the palace”—capital

city of the world. All nations brought their gold and silver to this city of world dictatorship. This

city is located one hundred fifty miles north of the Persian Gulf, east of the Tigris River. The

Persians called it Sush then (Sushan is Hebrew); today it is called Shush. It was in this city that

Queen Esther’s divine destiny preserved a nation.

“Shushan the palace” was a city within the city—a royal capital. The story begins with a

remarkably long feast that took place there. In the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all

his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the

provinces, being before him: When he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of

his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days (Esther 1:3-4).

How would you like to attend a feast that lasted six months?

When the feast was over, he had another one. And when these days were expired, the king

made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and

small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace (v. 5).

Those garden courts were fabulously decorated (v. 6).

And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, (the vessels being diverse one from another,)

and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king (Esther 1:7). Everyone had a cup

made of gold. Several thousand people and no two cups were alike! These Persians were

exceedingly rich.

It is a sad story, but after the feast and the drunken mess, the king asked Queen Vashti to

come forward and show her beauty. She would not, so he banished her. A search went forth

throughout all the provinces for all the fair young virgins to be brought unto Sushan the palace to

the house of the women. The maiden who pleased the king would be queen instead of Vashti.

In Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, Mordecai. He was a great man, for he sat in

the gate of the capital. This meant he had to do with the discourses of the government. This is

where they gave justice and answered the problems of the people.

Mordecai had brought up his uncle’s orphaned daughter, Hadassah (Esther). She was fair of

form and beautiful. It came to pass that Esther was chosen by the king as the most beautiful maiden,

and she became queen of the Persian Empire.

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Special Delivery

In Esther, we have one of the most fascinating accounts in history.

A man named Haman, a Hitler of his day, who was a Persian prince and stood next to the

emperor, planned the total annihilation of the people of Israel.

The King had promoted Haman and advanced him above all the princes. When Haman rode

through the streets, he asked that everyone in the king’s gate bow before him. One man at the gate

would not bow—the Jew Mordecai (Esther 3:2).

Haman was furious. He asked who the man was and why he would not bow. They told him

it was Mordecai and that he was a Jew (v. 4).

So Haman said, “I will destroy all Jews”: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews

that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai (v. 6).

He gathered information about the Jews and went before the king. The crux of the matter

was this: Haman said, “I want to destroy those people called the Jews. I will pay for it myself.” He

promised $20 million of his personal funds to finance the job.

What he did not know was that Queen Esther was a Jewess. Esther had not yet revealed her

lineage.

When Mordecai learned of Haman’s plan to destroy all the Jews in all one hundred twenty-

seven provinces, he rushed word to Esther, charging her that she should go in unto the king, to make

supplication unto him, and to make request before him for her people (Esther 4:8).

The law of the land was that if anyone, man or woman, should come unto the king who was

not called, they would be put to death—unless the king held out his golden sceptre that the person

should live. Esther had not been called to come unto the king for 30 days.

Mordecai sent these powerful words to Esther: Who knoweth whether thou are come to the

kingdom for such a time as this? (Esther 4:14).

Queen Esther took her life into her hands and went before the king. And it was so, when the

king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king

held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the

top of the sceptre (Esther 5:2).

Esther found favor with the Persian (Iranian) shah, and delivered the people of God. Haman

died for his sins. He was hung on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai.

The Jews were preserved and the Empire learned of the true and living God.

Immortal Peace Day Related to Iran

At the death of Haman and the salvation of the Jews, a great feast was celebrated (Esther

9:17). It was called the Feast of Purim. To this day it is celebrated by Jews all over the world during

the first part of February.

I have personally seen the Israeli children play and march through the streets of Israel on

this festive day. The mothers bake small cakes in the shape of a triangle which they give to various

people on this special peace day. It is a day of rejoicing.

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6

Iran and the Birth of Christ

It is most remarkable how certain nations become biblically oriented when the lineage of the

nation can be traced to the lineage of a single family.

Certain allegiances are owed to God when He becomes involved with a person or a nation.

When light comes across our pathway, we must live up to that light; if we don’t, darkness comes

into our lives or into our nation. We see this in the present nation of Iran. Iran was known as

Persia for 2,500 years (until 1935). Before then it was known as Elam. Iran, therefore, has a very

long history. It has had many opportunities to love and serve God—and it still has opportunities

today.

As Iran has been involved in Bible history from the time of Noah, it will continue to be part

of Bible prophecy until the Kingdom of Christ is fulfilled.

Wise Men from Iran

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold,

there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the

Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him (Matt. 2:1-2).

This is one of the most amazing stories in the Bible. It certainly has to do with the

supernatural.

How did they know a king was to be born?

How did they know he was to be king of the Jews?

Why were they interested in a Jewish king?

Why was it a star they followed?

Possibly, these men were acquainted with the Torah of the writings of Moses. Maybe they

knew Numbers 24:17: There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel.

If they knew prophecy and loved God, they would be searching the heavens for such a star.

Certainly they had to be guided supernaturally in order to arrive at this place at this specific time in

history.

Persian history relates that these men came from their area, from Elam. It says they were

trained in medicine, natural sciences, and astronomy. Today, three Iranian cities make claims that

the kings mentioned in Matthew were from their city. These are Savaha, Mahadam, and Razyach.

There are remarkable situations in this story.

One is that they were willing to follow a star in the heavens that was guiding them—

whatever that star was.

It is also remarkable that they were willing to worship and humble themselves before a

child. They expressly said they had come to worship Him.

It is interesting to see that Joseph and Mary were no longer in a barn or cow stable. They

were in a house when they were found. And when they were come into the house, they saw the

young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened

their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh (Matt. 2:11).

22

It is interesting that the commodities in the open market where money could easily be

obtained were gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They opened their treasures and presented these three

gifts to Jesus. This was adequate for support for a great length of time. It could take Mary and

Joseph and the Child to Egypt. They could live there comfortably. In time they could return to their

own home safely.

God could have arranged many other things to help the Lord Jesus go into Egypt for

protection against Herod, the king who eventually destroyed the boy babies two years old and

younger in Bethlehem. Undoubtedly, there were rich people who could have supplied funds for

their escape.

Why would the Lord reach back to the place from which He brought Abraham in the

beginning and bring forth these wise men across the burning deserts to this area? We probably will

not understand the full story until we are in heaven.

Certainly it links Iran with the Bible story in a most intrinsic way. It reveals that God has an

interest in the people of that area. It reveals that the people are willing to find and follow divine

revelation. It reveals that they were willing to meet a need which was urgent at that time.

It binds Iran forever with the birth of the Savior of the world. The story of the wise men

guarantees that the true story of the Savior of the world was told in the Persian land, for those wise

men would not have left Bethlehem until Mary had told all—until Joseph had told all—until the

Scriptures from Isaiah were clearly explained how a virgin would conceive and bear a child.

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7

Iran at the Birth of

the Christian Church

When the Son of God was born on planet earth, He came with direct and explicit

instructions to save this planet from its sins. This was brought about through the Jewish nation.

Though Christ was born into a Jewish family, Iranians came and brought the money to take Christ

and His family to safety and to support them during their moment of need.

The next great event in history after Christ ascended to heaven was the birth of the Christian

Church. Is it be possible that these people of Iran, who were connected with the birth of the Savior,

could also be involved in any way with the birth of the Christian Church?

Possibly the most revolutionary day in history was the day the Church was born. Jesus had

already said the gates of hell will not prevail against it! (Matt. 16:18).

Jesus has already divided humanity into two groups—they that believe and they that believe

not.

Now a mighty force—the Church—came into being! The story is told in Acts 2:1-4: And

when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And

suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house

where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat

upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other

tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The day had fully come. The Roman roads were ready for them to travel upon. The ships of

the world were ready to carry them across its waves. The arsenals of the Roman Empire were ready

to protect travelers as they journeyed from continent to continent, from nation to nation. The world

was ready. God was ready.

Most intensely interesting is who was present the day the Church was born.

At the initial infilling, there were one hundred twenty people in an upper room in a private

home. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was there. She belonged to the royal family. The eleven disciples

and apostles, who had been with Him from the beginning and were the foundation stones of the

Christian Church, were there. A few others are identified. Beyond this, there were more than one

hundred people whose names or addresses we do not know, but they were among those who made it

possible for the Church to be born.

After receiving the Holy Spirit, this ecstatic group flowed out of the Upper Room into the

Temple area where there was room for everyone. There they found many openhearted people ready

to hear.

And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven

(v. 5). How remarkable that Jews and converts to Judaism from throughout the world were in the

Temple area to worship God at this great feast of Pentecost on the day the Church was born!

It goes on to say, Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were

confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language (v. 6). This miracle

simply astounded them. They were amazed. They marveled, and they said to one another, Behold,

are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein

we were born? Parthian, and Medes, and Elamites. . . (vv. 7-9).

24

Other nations were named, but we will identify these three named first. The Parthians were

from the area called Pars, also called Fars, which is in southern Iran. The Medes were from central

Iran. The Elamites were from southwestern Iran and the capital city of Shushan.

Iranians were there the day the Church was born!

They went back home and began to plant the Church in their own area. The Church was

planted in Persia. Tradition says that Andrew lived in that area, that Bartholomew was a missionary

to Armenia, that Thomas labored in Parthia, and that Jude preached and died in Persia. They had

living Apostles.

But Iran is not a Christian nation today; it is predominantly Moslem. Why?

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8

JIHAD: Holy War

Webster’s New World Dictionary defines JIHAD as, “A war by Moslems against

unbelievers or enemies of Islam, carried out as a religious duty.”

Beyond any doubt, among the shifting sands of the Arabian Peninsula, world destiny is

being formed. It is very difficult for America to comprehend the vast importance of what is

happening in the Middle East at this time.

Iran has made itself the center of JIHAD. Its population is in a frenzy. Suddenly, the Persian

Empire emerges again.

America’s carnal Christians do not realize that the battles of our time are spiritual. In the

whole vast world today, the true issues are spiritual.

To understand JIHAD, one must know certain things about Islam. To know those things

about Islam, one must know certain things about Mohammed and his times.

The World of Mohammed

When Mohammed came on the scene of human activity, the power of Persia was devastated

and gone; a bad memory. The Grecian Empire had sunk into decay and was no longer a world

power. Even the Roman Empire lay at its lowest level in dust and defeat.

The Dark Ages had settled over the Western world. The Bible was locked in the cloistered

recesses of monasteries away from the common people. There were no other books. And only

fifteen percent of the population could read or write.

After the birth of the Christian Church, the Fertile Crescent enjoyed a great thrust of

spiritual growth and of the power of God. Many churches were formed. The Church grew in a

wonderful and delightful way, but between the first and sixth centuries the Church lost its

emphasis, its zeal, its fervor. It ceased to grow either materially or spiritually.

The world was ripe for a revolutionary religion such as Islam to be born. And from the dusty

wastes of Arabia, the people were ready for a prophet, good or bad.

Mohammed was born in 570 A.D. in the city of Mecca, thirty years before the end of the

sixth century. He died in 632 A.D. at sixty-two years of age.

The story of Mohammed is that of a child of misfortune. His father died two months before

his birth. His mother died when he was six. He was reared by his grandfather, who died later, and

then his uncle, Abu Talib.

Abu was a businessman and a trader. His merchant caravans followed the Fertile Crescent

from Persia to Egypt. Mohammed greatly enjoyed following these caravans with his uncle and his

nephew, Ali.

At the age of twenty-five, Mohammed was a chief camel driver working for Khadija, a

wealthy Jewish widow. Three years later he married her, though she was some twenty years older

than he was.

Owning a caravan was like owning a railroad or an airline today. He personally got to know

far away lands such as Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. He had much time to visit, to talk, and to listen

about religion and about philosophy.

26

With his newly gained wealth and prestige, Mohammed pursued his consuming desire. He

was constantly seeking for something that would satisfy his inner man. He was a thirsty man. Oh, if

only someone could have met him and given him the Truth!

He knew the Jews and Christians of his day.

The Jews had ample opportunity to win young Mohammed to the Jewish faith, to the true

God, to the Ten Commandments. Though the contacts were many, this was not done. Possibly the

Jewish leaders did not feel that this youth would mean much to the world and they paid no attention

to him.

The Christians also had many contacts with him. He probably sat in many of their services

and listened to them. It could be that the inconsistency of their business practices and lives could

not convince him to follow their religion.

He did not see a spirit or a power in either the Jews or the Christians to convince him, but

his writings show that he was influenced by them. He calls Abraham his father like the Jews call

him their father. The Koran, the sacred book of Islam, includes a strange story of Mary and the birth

of Jesus.

He often retired to a cave to meditate upon religion. One day he had a vision which changed

his destiny. He decided he was a prophet sent from Allah. He considered himself one of six great

prophets sent from Allah. He called Adam a prophet, which he was not. He called Noah a prophet,

which he was. He called Abraham a prophet, Moses a prophet, and Jesus a prophet. Mohammed

said of himself, “I am the last of the great prophets.”

It is possible to stay alone and fabricate your own ideas until you get way out into desolation

spiritually, thinking you are right. Some people living today have put themselves way out in a

corner, into cults and error.

The Word of God is Truth! And we have had it from the beginning of time. Paul said that

even if an angel from heaven preaches any other gospel, we are not to accept it (Gal. 1:8). For after

all, Satan himself can appear as an angel of light, as can his ministers (2 Cor. 11:14-15).

We cannot accept any private revelations. The revelation God gave is in the Bible. Eternal

Life is in the Bible.

Mohammed’s Revelations

Mohammed heard voices. They came to him, not once or twice, but over a period of twenty-

three years. He claimed the angel Gabriel dictated the Koran to him word for word.

The Koran, according to Mohammed, annuls the Bible. He declared that the Bible was

corrupted by both Jews and Christians and is not reliable.

Mohammed said in the Koran that Gabriel transmitted Islam’s teachings undefiled,

unmatched, and uncreated. He said they existed in heaven from the beginning.

The Koran has 114 Suras, or chapters, and contains 77,639 words.

In the Sura XCVIII:5-7, Mohammed taught that Christians, Jews, and idolaters are the worst

of all created beings and that Moslem believers are the best of all created beings.

In Sura IV:14, 29; IV:84, 101, 104, Mohammed taught that love is not as important as

obedience or submission.

27

The Koran strictly teaches its followers to love their own believers, but not disbelievers. It

encourages Moslems to wage a war (JIHAD) against non-Moslems in the name of Islam.

To kill a non-Moslem is justifiable. What is not permitted is to kill a believer, unless by

mistake, in which case blood money must be paid to the victim’s family.

Mohammed made polygamy a way of life. He gave Moslems permission to have four wives,

although he himself had ten wives. He said this was through special permission from Allah.

Incidentally, after Khadijah died, within a year Mohammed married three more wives. One

had been the wife of his adopted son. Another was a Jewish woman. The third was a Coptic

Christian. Mohammed certainly must have heard the Old and New Testament stories from these

women. His Koran contains Bible stories terribly twisted.

Mohammedanism teaches that Satan does not affect a man’s relationship with Allah. Nor

does the Adamic nature of the human transmit sin to its offspring. Mohammedanism teaches that

man is born sinless, but has a tendency to sin; however, he has the ability to rise above his sins. It is

not man’s relationship with God as much as it is the believer’s relationship with other believers that

is of great significance.

Bloodshed: A Way to Sell a New Religion

The first person Mohammed convinced of his new religion was his wife, Khadijah. His

nephew, Ali, was the second. Many Moslems today are named after this Ali, who became a strong

supporter of Mohammed and his ideas and was one of the first leaders of the new religion.

Mohammed had a difficult time teaching his new religion. He was persecuted and driven

from his native Mecca to Medina. His flight is called “Hegira.” He gathered his faithful around him

and taught them that the only way to win the world to Allah was by force, with the sword.

The forceful overthrow of the government of Medina came in 622 A.D., the same year he

arrived. The city was converted to Islam—except for some Jews and a few Christians—and

Mohammed became its ruler as well as its religious high priest.

The former camel driver, who turned prophet, priest, ruler, lawgiver, and judge, also became

commander-in-chief of JIHAD’s first armed forces. He attacked Mecca, defeated its army,

destroyed its idols, and established the new religion of Islam.

Medina and Mecca, where it all started, are the most holy places of the confederation. As

the Jews taught Mohammed to face Jerusalem to pray, he taught his followers to face Mecca to

pray.

At the time of his death, Mohammed had united almost all Arabia politically and religiously

under Moslem control, and he had turned his thoughts toward Persia and the world.

After his death, the enthusiasm of Mohammedanism began to rise in fanatical fury. Those

near him were determined to carry on his cause. They captured area after area and planted the

Crescent and the new religion of Islam. Islam’s leaders were fierce and uncompromising. To

disobey them was to die.

In less than twenty-five years, Mohammed’s followers had captured Persia, Syria, Palestine

and Egypt.

In less than seventy-five years, they had taken North Africa and had entered Europe through

Spain. It was only by a miracle of God that Charles Martel defeated the Moslems at the Battle of

Tours in 732 A.D. and stopped the progress of Mohammedanism in Europe.

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Mohammedanism had become the dominant power of the Mediterranean world. Its realm of

influence stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of China, encompassing all the great

empires of past history.

During the seventh and eighth centuries, Islam moved westward into Central Asia.

Irresistibly, century after century, it gained converts until most of Northern India had fallen before

its sword. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Islam moved toward the Far East into Java,

Sumatra, and many islands, including the Philippines.

All of the bloodshed was justifiable in the name of JIHAD. One of Islam’s greatest leaders

was Abu Bekr, who immediately followed Mohammed into leadership. He wrote to cities and

countries of Arabia to become subservient to the new religion. He sent his followers into Syria to

take out of the hands of the infidels the powers of state and religion. He told them, “And I would

have you know that fighting for religion is an act of obedience to Allah.”

The first Syrian city he conquered was Bosra. A man named Romanus was the leader of this

city. The invaders caused him to say publicly these words: “I deny Him that was crucified, and

whosoever worships Him. I choose God for my Lord, Islam for my faith, Mecca for my temple, the

Moslems for my brethren, and Mohammed for my prophet.” (The History of Nations, by Lodge,

page 418.)

Islam and Iran

When the Islamic religion invaded Iran, possibly the most severely persecuted were the

Zoroastrians. When Islam became the State religion, its leaders slowly persecuted the Christians

and other dissenters. It assessed them extra taxes. It forbade Christians to make converts. It refused

Christians the permission to display the Cross at all. Persecution varied by the provinces and also

by the rulers over them.

In the early history of Iran, the Church had prospered under kings such as Sassiens from 224

A.D. to 642 A.D. The city of Shush was the center of Christianity. But with the coming of

Mohammedanism, the Church was overwhelmed. By the time Genghis Khan, the Mongol monarch,

marched across Iran in the middle 1200s, the Church was almost eliminated. The remnant fled to

the mountains of western Iran. And the Church never knew strength again in that land.

Christianity Today in Iran

The largest professing group of Christians in Iran are the Armenians, possibly 160,000

strong. These Armenians date back to the first century. They are a closely knit people who mostly

intermarry. The book, Christians in Persia, states that in the year 1624 Shah Abbas passed a law

that any Christian who became a Moslem could claim the property of any of his relatives back to at

least four generations. It was said that possibly 50,000 Christians renounced their faith in order to

get property. Very few of these were Armenians.

Holy Places: Price of Non-Evangelism

Maybe the strongest thing we could say in this book is that the Jews had ample time and

place to win Mohammed to their religion. In this, they failed.

What they did not know was that the day would come when a Moslem mosque, the Mosque

of Omar, would be erected on the very site of Solomon’s Temple. Rather than the prayers of the

Jews being heard in that place, there would be prayers to Allah.

29

To the Jews, one of the most sacred spots on the earth is Hebron where Abraham lived,

where the angels talked to him at his front door, and the cave of Machpelah where he is buried. Five

patriarchs are buried in the cave at Hebron. But rather than its being a Jewish place of reverence,

respect, and prayer, it has a Moslem mosque over it. Mohammedan prayers are screamed from the

minaret towers five times a day.

What a tremendous reminder that if we do not win sinners to Christ, they will turn and

destroy us. I have so often wondered what a different world we would have if a Christian in Austria

had won Adolf Hitler to the Lord Jesus Christ. It could have saved fifty million people from

destruction by the war! When we do not evangelize, we suffer the consequences of it. Any person

you refuse to win to Christ can become your adversary.

Christians, too, had ample opportunity to win Mohammed. He met many of them in his

travels across the Fertile Crescent while passing through Syria and Palestine into Egypt. He must

have known much about Christianity. He saw its large churches, met its dignitaries, yet no one

converted him.

One result is that possibly the most sacred place on earth for the Christians—the top of

Mount Calvary—is a Moslem cemetery. Few Christians ever walk on that mountain. Steel gates, a

big chain, and a lock keep them out. I have been up there several times, especially when I lived in

Israel. I always give the porter a gift, but even then there is a reluctance to admit an “infidel” to

walk around those Moslem graves on Mount Calvary.

As one looks up at the face of Golgotha (meaning skull) and sees the indentations in the side

of the rock which must have given it its name, immediately below is seen an Arab bus station.

From early morning to late evening, animals cry as they are carried in and out, all kinds of

freight is continuously handled, buses toot their horns, people scream and yell in front of Calvary,

making it one of the most active spots of humanity I have seen—and all this within ten feet of

Golgotha, where the Son of God gave His life to save the entire human race.

This bus station had not been built in 1950, when I first began visiting the Holy Land (it was

built in 1953). Later, I wrote a letter to the mayor of Jerusalem, whom I knew when we lived there,

asking him if it could be moved. He answered that the Moslem population would never permit such

a thing.

What a price Christendom paid for not evangelizing everyone, everywhere, with the Gospel

of the Lord Jesus Christ! Today the Mohammedan religion has over one billion followers.

The most populous Moslem nation in the world is Indonesia with over two hundred million

adherents. Russia has twenty-seven million Moslems within its borders. The United States has

nearly seven million. The continent of Europe has fifty-six million Moslems, and Africa has over

five hundred eighty million.

World Dominance

A Moslem leader recently said, “Unless we win London to Islam, we will fail to win the

whole of the Western world.” Conquering the whole of the Western world is the ambition of the

Moslem world. In London there are 600,000 Moslems today. They have 418 mosques scattered

over the city. The Central Mosque and Islamic Cultural Center in Regents Park were built at a cost

of $7.5 million.

Is it possible that the nations of the West have not yet begun to realize the confrontation that

is before them? For JIHAD is the religious “duty” of the world’s Moslems.

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9

JIHAD and the Crusades

Possibly the greatest time of slaughter during the conflict between the Crescent and the

Cross was during the crusades when Christians of Europe undertook military expeditions to recover

the Holy Land from the Moslems.

They began in 1096 A.D. when Peter the Hermit moved possibly six million Europeans into

a fury, begging them to regain the holy places in Palestine for the Christians. He personally led a

crusade of men whom, history relates, were unprepared in training and arms. Neither did they

understand the difficulties and dangers of their conflict. Most perished en route from exposure,

hunger, disease, and war.

A decisive battle was the famous battle at the Horns of Hattin fought in 1187 A.D. The

Crusaders had passed from the Mediterranean to Nazareth where they settled. Their strategy was to

go over the Galilean hills to the Sea of Galilee and engage the Moslem sultan, Saladin, and his

forces in conflict.

King Guy of England had twenty thousand soldiers and one hundred twenty knights. What

he did not realize was that the Moslems had an army of eighty thousand awaiting him. Many died in

the bloody slaughter that ensued.

The crusades continued from the end of the eleventh century until the end of the thirteenth

century. Millions suffered and died on both sides. Both sides claimed Abraham as their father and

that they believed in the one true God.

It is one of the darkest pictures of human history.

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10

Modern-day JIHAD

Upon the entry of Islam into the world in the sixth century, the deserts rang out with a new

cry: “JIHAD! Holy War!” This new religion on the world’s scene would stand up angrily before the

old religions. It would demand its place in the forum of religions.

It would differ greatly from Buddhism, already one thousand years old. There could be no

idols or multiplicity of gods. In fact, there could be only one God, as the Judeo-Christian religions

believed. This oft-repeated tenet of the Moslem faith makes it clear: “There is no god but Allah;

Mohammed is his prophet.”

This newest of religions would bring a new world. It would use the sword to convert tribes,

nations, and empires to Islam. The hot sands of Arabia would become the bloody sands of religious

fanaticism. Synagogues of the Jews and churches of the Christians would be turned into Mosques.

Today, the backbones of Western statesmen are trembling as persistent and prophetic voices

are heard coming from the burning sands of ancient Persia, Babylon, Elam, Ur and Shushan. The

voices are crying, “We want JIHAD! We want Holy War!”

Iran and JIHAD

The crisis in the nation of Iran where sixty-three hostages were taken from the American

Embassy in Tehran (ten were later released) by militants and radicals was not a political maneuver.

It was not an accidental situation. It was spiritual! It was prophetic!

Modern Iran with its population of seventy million people and its relation with ancient

Persia has a remarkable relationship to prophetic destiny, much of which remains to be fulfilled.

Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, like Esther’s husband centuries before him, knew how to

hold sumptuous festivities. In 1971, he held a wild one hundred million dollar celebration to

commemorate twenty-five hundred years of recorded history. This man’s father had changed the

name from Persia to Iran in 1935.

However, as we have seen, the true story of Iran actually dates back four thousand years.

The people of the area can measure their times from Noah’s Ark to the Antichrist.

Few nations have survived such millennia. Iran (or Elam as it was known in ancient times)

as a people went through the terror of the Tower of Babel when in one night all the languages and

dialects of the world were created by God. They were a people in the days of Peleg when God

divided the continents, sub-continents, islands, and scattered the seas.

It is easy to measure the time of their lineage from Noah’s son, Elam.

The Bible records ten generations from Noah to Abraham (Gen. 11). Matthew 1:17

specifically states that from Abraham to David was fourteen generations, from David to Babylon

was fourteen generations, and from Babylon to Christ was fourteen generations. This totals fifty-

two generations. If a generation is forty years, as the Bible says, this equals two thousand and eighty

years.

And, of course, today’s calendar counts time from Christ until now in a reasonably close

proximity. Therefore, the roots of Iran can be traced four thousand years.

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We have also traced the religious roots of Iran and have seen how Islam became the

principle ruling religion of this Moslem state.

A House Divided

Not all Arabs are Moslems. Many evangelical Arabs belong to Baptist, Methodist,

Presbyterian, and Full Gospel churches.

The Coptic Church is one of the oldest churches in the world, dating back before the birth of

Islam.

We have already mentioned the Armenian Arabs who have held fast to their Christian

beliefs through many centuries of persecutions.

Druze are scattered throughout the Arab world, but they are not Moslems.

Turkey has a large number of Kurds, as does Iran.

The Arabs who are Moslems are divided into a number of sects. Sunni Muslims make up

approximately ninety percent of all Moslems. This largest group is more conservative. The Shiites

compose only about ten percent of the Moslem religion.

The Shiites believe that the successors of Mohammed by heredity assume spiritual and

political rulership. The Shiites teach that the religious leaders have supernatural wisdom not

available to other men. They teach that these religious leaders may make decisions above the

political leaders and that they must be obeyed.

Anwar Sadat of Egypt was a Sunni. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was a Shiite.

Shiite Mobilizer of JIHAD

In 1963 Iran was swept by riots stirred up by powerful Islamic Shiite leaders. (In Iran, ninety

percent of its Moslems are Shiites.) These riots protested Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s Western

ways, calling him a traitor of Islam.

The Shah put down the disturbances and arrested and exiled one of its religious

instigators—Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Khomeini was exiled first to Turkey and then to Iraq. But he could not be silenced. He

continued to preach against the idolatrous Shah, and for a “new nation of Islam.” His philosophy

was summed up in this statement to reporters: “Islam means everything. . . Islam contains

everything. Islam includes everything. Islam is everything.”

And Islam, as we have seen, demands JIHAD. Even as Khomeini sat in exile, he sowed

seeds of Holy War in Iran. He consistently cried out that the Shah and his U.S. ties must go.

The major reason for the downfall of the Shah was his opposition to his own religion—

Shiite Mohammedanism—and to Ayatollah Khomeini. When it became apparent that Khomeini’s

followers were everywhere displaying the Ayatollah’s picture, the Shah put pressure on the

government of Iraq to put him out of the country.

Khomeini fled to a small village outside of Paris in October, 1978. From there he broadcast

his message against Western theology, taking advantage of Western technology’s most modern

means of communication.

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He talked to the Western press. He sent his messages into the streets of Tehran by means of

cassette tapes, often sold by sidewalk vendors; these were played in the mosques and in the homes

of people—every day gathering more power and strength for Khomeini and his call for a return to

pure Islamic ways and goals. He could pick up a telephone in Paris and his followers in Tehran

would march in the streets. He called for strikes, shut down banks and the postal service, closed

factories, shops, and oil wells.

The Shah was powerless to stop it. On January 16, 1979, the Shah left the country and with

it his ancestral throne, ending one of the earth’s oldest monarchies.

On February 1, 1979, the Imam Khomeini returned in triumph from France after fifteen

years as a political exile. He was met by millions of jubilant Iranians shouting, “The holy one has

come! He is the light of our lives!”

Khomeini assumed the political and religious leadership of the nation, being designated as

Iran’s ruler for life. He died in 1989 and was succeeded by Ali Khamenei.

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11

JIHAD Against America

November 4, 1979, will go down in history as a day of infamy and shame.

Iran, the Imam, and Islam grabbed the attention of the world by attacking the U.S. Embassy

in Tehran. It was besieged and captured.

A large number of people were inside the embassy doing business that day. No high

American official was present. Sixty-three American hostages were taken. Ten were released later.

Fifty-three were held.

On the one hundred fifty-sixth day of the captivity of the American hostages, the United

States had exhausted its patience and broke diplomatic relations with Iran. They had sought aid and

assistance from every available group—the United Nations, the World Court, the Common Market

nations of Europe. Nothing availed.

Most of the world did not understand the type of war that was being waged, yet Khomeini

made it very plain that it was JIHAD.

His cries were not only heard across a sandy desert plain; they were carried around the

world by the twentieth century’s sophisticated media.

Only Satan could have caused him to set out upon such a dangerous course at this time in

history.

Operation Eagle Claw

The desert debacle of Friday, April 20, 1980, was called Eagle Claw by the Pentagon. It was

given this name to hold its secret mission. It was under the direction of Colonel Charles Beckwith.

The American government decided to recapture the American Embassy in Tehran and to

free the people who had been imprisoned at that time for over half a year.

The military rescue effort was aborted in the staging area in Iran’s great salt desert two

hundred fifty miles from the target in Tehran. Terrible wind storms whipped up the desert sand in

unbelievable fury. The men could not see where to go.

It ended with eight U.S. servicemen left dead on the burning sands, surrounded by three

disabled Sea Stallion helicopters and a great C-130 Hercules transport burned to a crisp.

I personally asked God why such a nation as America, with the finest equipment and the

best fighting men on the face of the earth, should fail in a mission such as this. I prayed desperately

for an answer. It was not only for me, it was for the whole Western world.

Khomeini’s Cries of JIHAD

“This is not a struggle between the United States and Iran,” Khomeini declared. “It is a

struggle between Islam and the infidels.” Here, Khomeini definitely said this is not a political

situation, but a religious one. All who are not Moslems are considered infidels.

“America is the mother of corruption,” Khomeini stated in a speech.

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Because of the strength of evangelism and Bibles being distributed from the United States,

Khomeini considers this evangelical thrust as the one which gives birth to what he considers

corruption.

“The United States is Enemy Number One of humanity,” Khomeini said in a radio

broadcast.

Khomeini made statements like this because ninety percent of all missionary dollars going

out around the world to convert people to the Lord Jesus Christ come from the United States;

therefore, he openly declared that the United States was a greater threat to him than even the

Russians to his north.

“Why should we be afraid?” Khomeini said of any American attempt to use force: “We

consider martyrdom a great honor.”

These people are the ultimate fanatics and are possessed with a desire to militantly subdue

nations and take them from the true life in Christ.

In a radio broadcast, Khomeini screamed for the entire Islamic world to join him. “Join us in

this struggle between the infidel and Islam!”

“All Moslems should join us,” he said, “because if this revolution fails, the East and

Moslem countries will be destroyed as a result.”

“This is not a struggle between the U.S. and Iran,” he said in another speech. “It is a struggle

between Islam and blasphemy.”

It is very possible the people of the Western world have not until this point identified the

titanic struggle in the breast of the Moslem to destroy Christianity and Judaism off the face of the

earth.

One has to go back to the Middle Ages and carefully study the terrible battles between the

crusaders and the Moslems to understand this fury. One finds it difficult to see how the flames of

hatred and revolution could burn for fourteen hundred years unless they are satanic in origin.

Khomeini’s inflammatory statements set off a rash of incidents around the world. Strangest

of all, and perhaps the most likely to shock the Moslem world, was when five hundred terrorists

dressed as pilgrims attacked Islam’s holiest shrine, the Grand Mosque in Mecca. A radical Moslem

cult sought recognition of its leader as the Islamic Messiah. (Moslems believe a secret Imam will

one day appear. According to Moslem belief there will be no more prophets—Mohammed was the

last—but directly under the prophets are the Imams.)

Government troops reclaimed the mosque, but not before several days of fighting and the

deaths of several men.

Khomeini found a way to blame the U.S. and Israel for the attack. An enraged mob attacked

the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan. They burned our magnificent government building; two Americans

were killed. Pakistani government troops rescued one hundred Americans who had been trapped

inside the burning building for hours.

The U.S. Consulate building in Izmir, Turkey, was stoned and windows were broken.

In Dhaka, Bangladesh, mobs shouted, “Down with American imperialism!”

In Calcutta, India, our President was burned in effigy.

Khomeini was hoping to start the real JIHAD. Had he been successful, there would have

been the greatest religious battle the world had ever known.

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Were we a first-class nation or not?

The Lord spoke back to me the same Friday that President Carter made his speech relating

to the aborted raid. God said, “I stopped the Americans in the desert before reaching the city,

because had they done so, there would have been more bloodshed than has ever been imagined.”

I trembled to think of this. I thought of how it might have triggered the confrontation with

Russia and how it could have been a world war which would have aroused the whole of the Arab

world with a JIHAD such as history has no record of.

God gave the Russian world further opportunity to seek His face, repent of their sins, and

ask His blessings upon their lives.

Iran with its Moslem fanatics held at bay the whole Western world, refusing to obey

international law and begging the Arab states to refuse oil to the industrial nations of the world,

which could have brought the most chaotic condition this world has ever known.

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12

JIHAD: In Alliance with Infidels

We have dealt with Iran’s long past, and somewhat with its present. We will deal now with

its future.

As a nation, Iran is one of the oldest among mankind. How many nations can trace their

existence as a people back to the flood? Israel, as a people, can trace their existence back to

Abraham—ten generations after the flood. To be able to clearly identify the people of Iran from the

time of Noah and the flood, through its famous world empire—the Persian Empire—and through its

ultimate destiny is unparalleled as far as I am able to ascertain.

The Bible is the only source from which to derive this information. We will see now what

the Bible has to say about Iran’s future.

A Land Desolated

The entire world knows that for two thousand years the land of Israel was a desolate piece of

property. What brought about the desolation of the “Promised Land”?

Abram came up out of Ur of the Chaldees as God’s solitary prophet leaving the sin, the

idolatry, and the paganism behind. He was to go to the land of Canaan to worship Jehovah, and

through this seed to bring the world a Savior.

When God called Abram out of Ur, He spoke to him about a promised seed and a promised

land. God said, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto

a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee. . .

(Gen.12:1-2).

Later, God told Abram how long this land would belong to his seed: For all the land which

thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever (Gen. 13:15).

God specifically laid out the location of the land: In the same day the Lord made a covenant

with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great

river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites,

and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites,

and the Jebusites (Gen. 15:18-21).

God made a covenant with this people through whom He would bring a Savior to all men.

He promised to bless them.

Moses was very careful to tell the people of Israel, speaking with the voice of God, the

blessings that were theirs if they would remember God and His precepts—and the cursings they

would suffer if they did not (Deut. 28).

Israel forgot God. They forgot His sabbaths. They forgot His commandments. They forgot

all the things God had done for them. So the Word of God in Deuteronomy 28 was fulfilled.

The rising power of empire overwhelmed them and they were taken into Babylonian

captivity for over seventy years.

A remnant returned, some say one-sixth, to rebuild Jerusalem. But it was never the same as

it had been in the days of David.

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The prophets foretold that the peoples of Israel would wander and be dispersed among the

heathen, and as a result their land would be desolate. It has been estimated that at the beginning of

the Christian era four million Jews lived in various parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, while seven

hundred thousand lived in their own land.

The destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 A.D. brought about the final scattering of the

Jews.

When Israel followed God and occupied the land He gave them, the land showed forth His

blessing. It was even called a land of milk and honey. But when the rightful heirs were disobedient,

or were gone all together, the land bore the shame of barrenness. It would never produce for anyone

but its rightful owners.

A Land Revived

Ezekiel, a prophet of God, is a source of information relative to the last days of the

“dispensation of grace.”

In Ezekiel 36, he prophesied exactly how the land of Israel would be revived.

God Himself speaks to mountains! He requires them to change from a desolate place into a

fruitful place!

Ezekiel was commanded of God to prophesy relative to the end time saying that the

mountains would shoot forth their branches, that they would yield their fruit to the people of Israel

(v. 8).

Ezekiel prophesied that the land would again be tilled and sown (v. 9).

Further, Ezekiel said that God will multiply man and beast, and they shall increase and bear

fruit: And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be

inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded: And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they

shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto

you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD (VV. 10-11).

Through the centuries, the earth of the Promised Land has been covered with blood many

times. The Crusaders fought violently there to redeem Jerusalem for the Christians. Every major

empire in history played its part there. The Roman Empire devastated the land, and it has been

devastated many times since.

For four hundred years the Turks ruled the land. They even put a tax on trees. People cut

down their trees to avoid paying the tax, and the land became exceedingly desolate.

But in my lifetime—in the past twenty-five to thirty years—God changed the land. He

brought back rain upon the soil. He caused millions of trees to be planted. The entire land today has

had a rebirth from barrenness to fruitfulness. Some of the most delicious fruit I have tasted in the

world—and I have lived and ministered in over one hundred countries—grows on the hillsides of

Israel.

The world has watched while Ezekiel’s twenty-five-hundred-year-old prophecy of a land’s

reviving has come true.

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The Revival of a Nation

In the very next chapter, Ezekiel chapter 37, God calls the prophet to prophesy relative to a

nation. He had prophesied to the waste places. He had prophesied to the desolate ground. Now the

Spirit of God takes him to a valley full of dry bones.

God asked the prophet, Son of man, can these bones live?

Ezekiel was so astounded at the sight of the bleached bones in the desert that he had to say,

O Lord God, thou knowest (v. 3).

In all the universe, God was the only one who believed that He could gather men from more

than one hundred countries of the world and cause them to fit into one body to become a strong

nation.

Listen to what God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the scattered bones: Again he said unto me,

Prophesy unto these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus

saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall

live: . . . and ye shall know that I am the Lord (vv. 4-6).

Ezekiel obeyed God. He prophesied to the bones. Then he watched them come together,

stand upon their feet, and become an exceeding great army (v. 10).

Then God told Ezekiel who the bones were: Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones

are the whole house of Israel (v. 11).

God said, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone,

and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one

nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel. . . (vv. 21-22).

In our lifetime, we have seen the Israeli people come from the four corners of the earth. We

have watched them assemble themselves in their old places and build a nation with such vigor and

passion that with less than four million of them, they could challenge one hundred million

neighbors.

Incredible! Yet all knowledgeable observers agree this has already been accomplished and

that this miracle has been performed in our times.

Again, the prophet Ezekiel in two successive chapters has met the test of a true prophet—his

prophecies have been fulfilled.

Now we come to the next two chapters of Ezekiel—38 and 39—where we see one of the

most astounding prophecies of history. This next prophecy of Ezekiel has been written about—it

has been much discussed—and it is very near completion. It gives the prophetic future of the

ancient nation of Israel. It also gives the prophetic future of the ancient nation of Iran and the not-

too-distant future of Russia.

For the Sake of JIHAD!

Iran Joins with Infidels

Again, Ezekiel is told to prophesy: Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog,

the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him (Ezek. 38:2).

We can identify to whom God refers by going back to Genesis 10 where the generations of

the sons of Noah are given. Japheth was one of Noah’s three sons. The sons of Japheth; Gomer,

and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras (Gen. 10:2).

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Magog, Tubal and Meshech were grandsons of Noah. They settled north of the Black Sea

and east. This is the land Ezekiel 38:2 names.

Most teachers of Bible prophecy clearly identify the combination of Russian alliances to be

these people. Moscow, in the west, and Tobolsk, in the east, of Russia are clearly recognizable.

What does Ezekiel prophesy to them? After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter

years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of

many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth

out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them (Ezek. 38:8).

God identifies a time: “in the latter years.”

In the latter years, northern lands shall come down upon Israel, a people brought back from

the sword. Israel—a persecuted people for two thousand years—would be attacked from the north

in their own land where they had come to dwell in safety:

Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou,

and all thy bands, and many people with thee (Ezek. 38:9). These people from the north shall come

possibly in a larger military force than the world has ever before witnessed.

Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come

into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of

unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without

walls, and having neither bars nor gates (Ezek. 38:10-11). Such a thing was unheard of in the time

Ezekiel wrote this. There were no such cities. There were no such towns. All towns had walls

around them to protect the residents from wild beasts and hostile armies. They all had gates. They

all had bars.

This was a prophecy that would not be understood by the people in Ezekiel’s day, six

hundred years before the Lord Jesus Christ was born.

They will come for a spoil. Read the 38th and the 39th chapters of Ezekiel for the complete

picture of a war before it is even fought.

Now, let’s go back a bit. Verse nine said to Russia, “all thy bands and many people with

thee.”

Who will come down with Russia against Israel?

Verses 5-6 name the allies. The first one named is Persia. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with

them; all of them with shield and helmet (Ezek. 38:5).

Persia—modern Iran

Ethiopia—North Africa

Libya—Eastern and North Africa, or it could be an area south of Kush in the area of Syria

and Iran.

Other allies are mentioned in verse 6—but the ones we have named would know the

meaning of JIHAD.

The JIHAD! The Holy War! And Persia will be leading the way in this battle.

Iran is destined to join the Russians in coming against Israel. Only in madness would this

thing be conceived. Only in anger of the deepest sort could it be brought forth.

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These people, who believe that Allah is the one true god, will join with the infidels of

Russia and come against Israel, whose father is Abraham.

The World News

No doubt the world news in the near future will give an amazing broadcast something like

this:

Ladies and gentlemen: we have very bad news to report. Millions of people

have joined with Russia in a march upon Israel. Israel has moved into the oil reserve

nations of Arabia and has captured them. Israel must be stopped; otherwise, Israel

will control the entire world. Therefore, the united armies of Russia and its allies,

which include most of the Arab states, with the exception of Egypt and Jordan, are

marching against Israel tonight.

Ladies and gentlemen, by tomorrow morning, there will be no Israel. So

many of these people are marching south, it seems like a cloud. The sun is hardly

visible with the dust that rises from this mightiest army of mankind. This is Israel’s

last night on this earth as the nation of Israel. Tomorrow morning it will be no

more.”

The Next Day

The following day the world news reports will resemble as follows:

Ladies and gentlemen: There is a surprise in world news. Yesterday it was

forecast that today Israel would no longer be a nation. But from our reporters in that

area, we have learned that a strange phenomenon has taken place. Israel is very

much alive! But Russia and its allies are dead!

At this moment we are not able to explain this. We are only able to say that

very strong radio and television stations out of Jerusalem are inviting the entire

world to come to Israel. Millions are dead. Israeli officials are asking visitors to

bring a shovel. Anyone can keep all the riches they may find on any body they will

bury. Officials have predicted it will take seven months to bury all the dead [Ezek.

39:12]. Long live Israel!

This is what a broadcast may sound like after it happens.

God forecast it twenty-six hundred years before it has happened. And just as certainly as

Ezekiel 36 came to pass regarding the restoration of the land—and just as certainly as Ezekiel 37

came to pass regarding the coming together of the peoples from dispersion—Ezekiel 38-39 will

come to pass in full.

God foretold that “in the latter days” those who have fought against Him and denied Him,

and those who agree to walk with them, will die on the vast plains of Megiddo in northern Israel.

God Himself will fight against those people who come against Israel:

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I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain

upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an

overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify

myself and sanctify [honor] myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations,

and they shall know that I am the Lord (Ezek. 38:22-23).

Ezekiel 39:11-15 says,

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there

of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall

stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his

multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog. And seven months shall

the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all the

people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I

shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD. And they shall sever out men of continual

employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that

remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall

they search. And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's

bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of

Hamongog.

God sums up the situation in Ezekiel 39:28-29:

Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be

led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land,

and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide my face any more

from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord

God.

Iran, that nation which had the witness of God in the miracle of the Jews’ salvation during

the years of their Jewish Queen, Esther. . .

Iran, that nation which had the witness of the wise men…

Iran, that nation which had the witness of the people who were at the first outpouring of the

Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. . .

Iran, despite all that, chose Islam and JIHAD and will find devastation and desolation on the

plains of Megiddo.

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13

The Final JIHAD

Our earth has known great wars. It has known much bloodshed. But after the final war, the

day of peace will come.

Closing out the great tribulation, Jesus Christ will return to personally fight against the

Antichrist and his armies to destroy them.

A prophecy we have already looked at foretold it. One of the most outstanding prophecies of

the entire Bible is the vision that the first world empire builder saw. Let’s look at it again; this time

paying particular attention to the last part:

Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose

brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This

image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his

thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest

till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that

were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces (Dan. 2:31-34).

This is the final JIHAD.

A Stone would be cut without hands from the mountain. This Stone is Jesus. He is the Rock

of Ages. He is the Smiting Stone. He is the Cornerstone of all civilization.

He was cut without hands. He was born of a virgin. He did not come to this earth as other

men had come. He came as the Son of God to redeem the world from its sins. He was not promoted

to a place of authority by any human instrument. He had no natural assistance in making him the

King of kings and the Lord of lords. The Stone was cut without hands.

God says this Stone smote the image upon his feet, which were of iron and clay, and broke

them to pieces. Why its feet? Because that’s the time in history in which He strikes. The Stone

without hands does not smite in the time of the gold, or the silver, or the brass. It smites in the last

days of this world’s empires.

The Stone strikes the ten-toed kingdom of the Antichrist, which is very likely being brought

into existence today through the Common Market countries of Europe.

This ten-nation confederacy will choose a fateful leader. That leader will befriend Israel and

make a seven-year covenant with her after she has defeated Russia.

At the destruction of Russia as a world power, the next great power will be that of the

Common Market countries of Europe. They will be the richest and most powerful of all nations.

Already they exchange products with no import tariffs.

From these nations shall arise the Antichrist. He will accuse God of being responsible for all

earth’s problems. Forces under his leadership will war with God.

At that point, the Stone will smite the feet of this great image that God spoke of so many

years before. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces

together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them

away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great

mountain, and filled the whole earth (Dan. 2:35).

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How could the gold, the silver, the brass, the iron, and the clay be broken in pieces

“together” when they are so many centuries apart? What all these empires stood for still remains

today. Each contributed its part to the chaotic conditions of today’s world.

1. Babylon. It was in Babylon that the occult came into its power. Superstitions

were born there. Babylon was the nesting place of spiritism, demonism, Satanism.

The occult offspring of Babylon constitute one of the greatest problems in the world

today. When the Stone which is cut without hands smites the image, Babylon will

forever be defeated with all of its occult, sinister, nether-world teachings. All

spiritism will completely die when Babylon is struck down by the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. The Persian Empire. The Persian Empire represents indulgence. It represents

every lust of the human flesh. It represents luxury at its highest. The very spirit of

the Persian courts is in the world today, strongly anti-God, and destroying virtue. All

of the sins of the great Persian courts are on our highways and streets to this day. All

the lewdness of our modern world has the spirit of Persia in it. And that Stone, when

it comes, will smite and destroy these sins.

3. The Grecian Empire. Greece represents learning—philosophy—man without

need for God. Humanism is its strength. This empire remains with us today. It stalks

down our university halls. It screams over the mass media saying that man is

sufficient. He does not need God. He is acceptable in his own rights. Man can make

a way for himself. When the Lord Jesus comes, He will smite this. The whole world

shall know that God is God and that Christ is the Savior of the world.

4. The Roman Empire. The Romans represented the people’s government. “Let the

will of the people be done,” they said. The great power of Rome is with us today in

the democracies of the world, saying, “With government we can save ourselves. We

can make laws to correct ourselves. Government is the answer.”

I was in a Florida court room when the judge said, “In this room, law is God.”

I was astounded. I responded, “Judge, nowhere on earth is law God.” He did not listen.

Rome, with all of its fantasies and assumed power, failed. All human governments around

the world have failed miserably. When that Stone smites them, they shall be broken in pieces.

The next few words of that prophecy are very significant. These empires—these

achievements of man—shall become “like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors.” The wind will

carry them away. No place will be found for them. When the Lord Jesus Christ shall rule over this

earth for one thousand years, there will be no memories of these desolate empires which sought to

rule man and the world.

God would have you realize that things of this world will pass away. The cults of Babylon,

the luxury of Persia, the learning of the Greeks, the government of the Romans shall all be swept

away. God says they will be like chaff. They will be as nothing. They will be blown away. The wind

carries them away and no place is found for them. Forever they are gone from the memory of man.

The last line is wonderful: “The stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and

filled the whole earth!”

The Lord Jesus Christ shall become King of kings and Lord of lords! He shall become

Master of all mankind.

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The last JIHAD is when our Lord and Master becomes supreme upon the earth and destroys

from it all forces of evil. He is the Conquering One who sets humanity free!

Revelation 17:14 describes that war: These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb

shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are

called, and chosen, and faithful.

The final battle will be the forces of Antichrist against the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Details of the battle are already foretold. Its outcome is already decided. God revealed through His

servant John that at the conclusion of the great bloodbath, Jesus destroyed His enemies.

A multitude cries out! And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice

of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God

omnipotent reigneth (Rev. 19:6).

There shall be a time when the Lord Jesus gathers His own redeemed unto Himself. They

shall have a time of rejoicing when the Lord Jesus shall be forever united with His own.

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the

Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that

she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the

righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are

called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the

true sayings of God (Rev. 19:7-9).

All those who are with the Lord shall be called together with Him.

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon

him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a

name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture

dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which

were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and

clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the

nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of

the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his

thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS (Rev. 19:11-16).

This is the consummation of all JIHAD!

There shall be no more wars. They shall cease.

There shall be no more tyranny. It shall cease.

There shall be no more anger. It shall cease.

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A Final Word

Jesus talked to His disciples about the signs of the end-time in Matthew 24, and exhorted

them, and us, not to fear when we saw these things begin to happen, but to look up and rejoice

because our redemption is near.

I believe we are in the last of the last days and living in the most exciting times of all history

as we watch prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes and as we see a great harvest of souls come

into the Kingdom of God. Now is not the time to crawl in a hole. Now is not the time to be afraid.

Now is the time to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ with more vigor and persistence than ever

before.

Jesus is coming back soon, but before He does the great harvest of souls must come in. The

fields are white and ready for harvest. Let us pray for the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers

into His harvest (Matt. 9:38).

It is time to be in prayer for laborers, and to be willing to pick up and go when the Holy

Spirit says “go!” Pray for our leaders and the leaders of all nations of the world (I Tim. 2:1-2). Pray

for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps. 122:6). Pray for Christians in every nation of the world. These are

days of destiny, and they are trying times for all who love the Lord and are called by His name. The

culmination of the ages is upon us, and it is a time to be more diligent and watchful than ever

before.

I challenge you to do your part in fulfilling the plans of God in the earth. Pray and

evangelize. Fulfill the commission of Jesus to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth (Mark 16:15),

for Jesus says that only then will the end come (Matt. 24:14).

Pray for the Moslem nations, that their doors will be opened to the preaching of the Gospel

and that revival might come to those caught in this great satanic deception. God will not let twenty

percent of the world’s population be left without the witness of Jesus preached to them, but He has

given the job to the Church.

This is our finest hour! This is not the time to be hiding in a corner, praying for Jesus to

come and take us out of trouble. Jesus will come when God says it is time, but when He does come

He expects to find us busy, staying in faith and winning souls to Jesus.

Take your place in the history of mankind. Pray that we, the Church, stand up and take off

the cumbersome cloaks of religion and apathy and be loosed to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ

with boldness.

I challenge believers everywhere to answer the call and commission of Jesus:

Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that

believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils;

they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any

deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall

recover (Mark 16:15-18.)

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A Salvation Prayer

If Jesus should come today, would you be ready? If you say the following prayer from the

depths of your heart and surrender to Him as the Lord of your life, He will forgive you for all the

sins you have ever committed. As you trust Him, you will be filled with the hope and peace that

only Jesus can offer. If you are ready to make this commitment, from the depths of your heart

please pray the following out loud:

Dear Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. I believe that you died and rose from the dead to save

me from my sins. Please forgive me for all the sins I have ever committed. I here and

now open my heart to you and ask that you come into my heart as Lord of my life.

Please be my personal Savior, and help me to live for you daily. Baptize me in your

Spirit. Thank you for your grace and mercy. Amen.

Now that you have given your life to Christ, it is important to pray and read the Bible on a

daily basis. It also is important to attend a Bible-believing church regularly. Prayer, Bible study, and

church attendance will help you to walk in continual fellowship with the Lord.

LeSEA 24-hour Prayerline:

1-800-365-3732

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Other Books by Dr. Lester Sumrall

Adventuring with Christ

Alien Entities

Angels to Help You

Demons: The Answer Book

Faith Can Change Your World

The Gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit

God’s Blueprint for a Happy Home

How to Know the Will of God

I Did Not Quit!

Jerusalem: Where Empires Die

Making of a Champion

Mercy: Man’s Greatest Hope

The Militant Church

Mystery of Death

Overcoming Compulsive Desires

Panorama of Prophecy

Pioneers of Faith

Secrets of Answered Prayer

Supernatural Principalities & Powers

Victory and Dominion over Fear

You Can Destroy the Gates of Hell

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Dr. Lester Sumrall

1913-1996

The voice of Dr. Lester Sumrall remains prominent in the Christian world today. More than

65 years of ministry in over 100 nations made Dr. Sumrall a respected source of wisdom and

understanding. He was an author, teacher, missionary, evangelist, and the pastor and founder of

Christian Center Church in South Bend, Indiana. Throughout his lifetime, Dr. Sumrall worked

tirelessly to fulfill the Great Commission by carrying the gospel to the ends of the earth. In 1957 he

founded LeSEA, a multi-faceted global outreach. Today, LeSEA’s outreaches blanket the world

through LeSEA Publications, television, satellite, FM and shortwave radio.